30 pages • 1 hour read
Marriage is a Private Affair
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Literary Devices
Point of View
This story has a third-person omniscient narrative voice, meaning the narrator knows and can convey the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the story. This narrative point of view allows the reader to gain insight into the motivations and perspectives of each character and understand the conflict from multiple angles.
Throughout the story, the third-person omniscient point of view allows the reader to understand the conflict between Nnaemeka and his father from both perspectives. The narrator conveys Nnaemeka’s frustration and disappointment with his father’s stubbornness, as well as Okeke’s anxiety about the potential loss of his cultural heritage and the desire to maintain traditional values.
The point of view also allows the reader to understand the perspectives of secondary characters, such as Nene and Okeke’s friends, who provide additional context and insight into the situation. For example, Nene’s perspective helps to emphasize the generational and cultural divide between Nnaemeka and his father, while Okeke’s friends’ perspective gives the reader insight into the traditions of the Igbo culture.
Overall, the third-person omniscient point of view in “Marriage is a Private Affair” allows the reader to gain a multifaceted understanding of the conflict and the characters involved, providing insight into the cultural and generational tensions that underlie the story’s central conflict.
Allusion
Throughout the story, Achebe makes use of allusions (references to another literary work), particularly to the Bible, to enhance the reader’s understanding of the story and its themes. These allusions are particularly important in highlighting the cultural and religious tensions between the characters and the conflicts that arise from their differing beliefs.
First, Okeke references St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians when he insists that one important quality of a desirable wife is that she keep herself silent. This marks one fundamental difference between father and son and their interpretations of the Bible.
Later in the story, Okeke and the other tribal elders lament Nnaemeka’s decision to marry a woman who “[speaks] a different tongue” (26). This alludes to the story of the Tower of Babel where the people were given different languages as a punishment for their pride and arrogance. This allusion ironically highlights the vast differences that exist between Okeke and his son even though they speak the same language.
Figurative Language
One of the most striking uses of figurative language in this story is the metaphor of the storm. Early in the story, Nnaemeka likens his father’s wrath over hearing the news of his engagement to Nene to a storm. In that instance, the storm does not come, but Nnaemeka regards his father’s “silence [as] infinitely more menacing than a flood of threatening speech” (25). The metaphorical “calm before the storm” is often more unnerving than the storm itself. The language of the “flood” also plays into the metaphor of the storm.
Later in the story, the literal storm plays an entirely different role, as the sounds of the storm outside lead Okeke to question the resolution he has made to have nothing to do with his son and his family. He imagines his grandsons “standing, sad and forsaken, under the harsh angry weather—shut out from his house” (30), and he finds his resolve weakening. The story ends with the suggestion that Okeke and Nnaemeka will reconcile and that Okeke will have a relationship with his grandsons.
Anecdote
When Okeke consults his peers for advice on how to handle Nnaemeka’s betrayal, some of them suggest that he consult an herbalist or native doctor to prescribe medicine to “bring [Nnaemeka] back to his right senses” (27). They propose a love potion called Amalile, “the same that women apply with success to recapture their husbands’ straying affection” (27).
Okeke is quick to dismiss this suggestion, demonstrating that he, too, has broken with tradition in some ways, and he supports his decision with an anecdote about Mrs. Ochuba who inadvertently killed the herbalist himself with the medicine he had prepared for her husband. According to Okeke, if Nnaemeka “wants to kill himself let him do it with his own hands” (27).
This short story about the herbalist and how administering native medicine can go wrong calls some of the traditional ways into question and suggests perhaps that looking beyond tribal customs is wise.
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By Chinua Achebe
